Making Rich Lawyers Richer
Apple's certainly no stranger to the slow-moving and expensive world of litigation, in court for one reason or another since the days of the Apple ][. Back then, it was mainly far-eastern clones, including replication of the Autostart ROM, that Apple vigorously went after. Right now, it's fighting e-Machines over their blatant wintel-based ripoff of the iMac design and form-factor, mentioned here in an earlier issue.

Now it's Apple's turn in the barrel, as it gets sued for trademark infringement by Microware http://www.microware.com, which claims their UNIX operating system, OS 9 (which they trademarked in 1980), is being infringed upon by Mac OS 9.

Microware says that because they sell a PowerPC version of their OS 9 software, untold millions of consumers could well be utterly confounded, perplexed, and otherwise confused by the two names. Thus dithered, they might mistakenly buy Apple's OS when it's really Microware's world-famous product they're really looking for. So to protect their legions of customers, they're forced to seek legal redress.

Well, they can pay lawyers to say that if they want to, but it shouldn't take a court long to realize the specious reasoning behind their claim. Here's why:

I'm employed as a Technical Service Manager--an IT professional--for one of the largest design studios in the world. I'm constantly deluged with ads and announcements for corporate and end-user products from companies all over the world. Yet I have never seen an ad for a Microware product of any kind either at work or in my capacity here at My Mac. For that matter, I've never seen Microware's OS-9 for sale anywhere. Where is their presence in the marketplace to which they claim infringement?

On their website, Microware claims that "Thousands of customers and partners around the world are using Microware's OS-9 Real-Time Operating System (RTOS) in embedded designs." Well, this may be true, and over the years not just hundreds, but perhaps thousands of specialty companies use or have used Microware's RTOS in industrial machinery, etc., just as they claim. But what does that have to do with Apple's incremental version of its multi-lingual, well-known microcomputer OS with an installed base of millions? We're not talking about Microsoft's purloining of the Mac OS's look and feel here; we're speaking about a name of a product ONLY. The Microware product has an extremely narrow focus and is completely unadvertised to the personal computer-buying public. And since Apple isn't touting their OS to a market that Microware is in, where is a loss incurred?

Apparently, for the last fifteen years Microware has been biding their time for Apple to refine its way into a "ninth configuration." Like other opportunists who pre-register Internet domain names in hopes of forcing big companies to eventually settle out-of-court, they're now putting a legal arm on Apple. We see no merit in Microware's case, but we'll follow it and keep you posted.

G4 Envy
I know a goodly number of you reading this are craving a G4 system, probably the new 500MHz model. I know I am. But is this new system really worth all this fuss? Is this a computer you really NEED to own? It is? Yeah, me too!!!

Tanks
Did you catch the latest commercial for the new PowerMac G4, the one with the tanks circling to protect our country's newest supercomputer? If not, go grab the QuickTime version at http://www.apple.com/powermac/tanks.html today!

A Few Changes
Most of you are used to reading both mine and Russ' ramblings on this page. But after years of work on My Mac without taking a break, Russ found he really needed to take a leave of absence. We here at My Mac understand completely, and wish him all the best in this interim period. Of course, this also means we'll be running things without his invaluable input for a few months. Wish us luck!

We also created a new staff position, that of Public Relations Representative, and Barbara Bell has graciously agreed to fill this new role. The PR person will fill a glaring gap in our publishing endeavors, and will help get the word out about My Mac. Welcome to the publishing side of things, Barbara!

New Writers Wanted
As always, My Mac is looking for new writers. We plan to expand our magazine in the very near future, and one of the areas we are looking to expand into is the professional Macintosh user market. As such, we are looking for expert users who wish to share their tips, tricks, and knowledge in the following areas: Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Quark Express, and Macintosh programming.

So if you have the expertise and are looking to write a column for web publication AND can work for slightly less than minimum wage (free, actually, as we all do here at My Mac!), please drop me a line at publisher@mymac.com!

SETI & My Mac
Are you a SETI user? Hey, if you are, why not join our team here at My Mac? Stop by our website, or go directly to http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/cgi?cmd=team_lookup&name=MyMac and join up!

Tim Robertson
publisher@mymac.com